Four Broncos Finish in Top-25 as Boise State Takes Fourth at PING Cougar Classic?Four Broncos placed in the top-25 as Boise State tied for fourth place out of 14 teams at the 2009 PING Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah. Freshman Blake Brown led the team placing fifth overall carding an 8-under-par 208. Boise State's other top-25 fini

Blake Brown takes fifth place.

PROVO, Utah (4/25/2009) Four Broncos placed in the top-25 as Boise State tied for fourth place out of 14 teams at the 2009 PING Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah. Freshman Blake Brown led the team placing fifth overall carding an 8-under-par 208. Boise State’s other top-25 finishers were John Baranco tying for 16th, Robbie Richards took 21st followed closely by Scott Loewen at 22nd. The Broncos battled hard throughout the two-day tournament tying for fourth place with defending champion New Mexico State at 8-under 256.

Boise State opened the tournament Friday morning tallying an even-par 288 which was good for fourth place entering the second round that afternoon. The Broncos trailed the leaders and tournament host BYU Cougars by five strokes who stood at 283 (-5).

The Broncos rallied during the late session on Friday by shaving six strokes off their first round total recording a 6-under 282. That moved the blue and orange into third place with a first-day team total of 570 (-6). BYU held onto the lead and extended it to seven strokes over second place Idaho at 566 (-10) and 11 over the Broncos.

This morning Boise State fought hard turning in the fifth best score during the third round with a 2-under 286. The final round’s score gave the Broncos a tournament total of 8-under-par 856 tying them with New Mexico State for fourth. The Aggies caught Boise State by carding a 285 (-3) today. Colorado State was on fire this morning tallying the best final round result with a 11-under 277 passing Boise State, New Mexico State and Idaho to finish in second place with a 851 (-13). BYU won the title with a 22-under 842 while Idaho dropped to third at 854 (-10).

Individually the Broncos turned in their best overall performance this season with four Broncos recording top-25 finishes for the first time this year.

Blake Brown led Boise State recording the top score for the Broncos in both the first and third rounds. Overall, the freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz., carded scores of 69 (-3), 70 (-2), and 69 (-3). He moved from a tie for seventh place Friday night after two rounds into sole possession of fifth place with a tournament total of 8-under 208 at the end on Saturday, three strokes behind the champion Matt McArthur of Southern Utah with a 205 (-11). It is Brown’s top finish of the spring and second best of his freshman year following a third place result at the Kauai Collegiate Invite last November. This is his third top-10 finish and fifth top-25 result of the season.

John Baranco followed Brown with the second-best tournament result for the Broncos. The junior from Boise fired a 2-over 74 during the opening round on Friday to find himself in a tie for 36th place after 18. He slowly closed the gap beginning with the second session yesterday when he carded a 1-under 71 moving up 12 positions in the standings to sit in a tie for 24th Friday night with a tworound total of 145 (+1). This morning he continued to shave strokes off his previous scores carding a 2-under 70. Baranco finished the tournament with a total mark of 1-under 215. When it was all over he had improve his standing 20 spots from a tie for 36th after round one to a tie for 16th Saturday afternoon. Baranco has now recorded four top-25 results this year.

Robbie Richards finished one stroke behind Baranco in the final standings taking sole possession of 21st with a tournament total of even-par 216. The junior from Australia opened the Classic with a 2-over 74 Friday morning finding himself tied with Baranco and 13 others for 36th place after 18 holes. He had a solid second round Friday afternoon shaving five strokes off his first round total to record a team-best round score of 3-under 69 to move into a five-way tie, which included teammate Scott Loewen, for 16th place after 36 holes. During today’s final round he turned in a 1-over 73 which dropped him down to 21st. This was his third top-25 finish of the 2008-09 campaign.

Scott Loewen was fourth for Boise State at the PING Cougar Classic finishing with a 1-over-par 217 after three rounds, good for 22nd place. The senior from Winnipeg, Manitoba, opened the tournament Friday morning solid carding a 1-under 71 and in a six-way tie for ninth place. The second session saw Loewen record an even-par 72 for a two round total of 143 (-1) which had him tied for 16th place with Richards and three others heading into Saturday morning. Today saw the team’s leader on the year tally a 2-over 74 resulting in his drop to sole possession of 22nd place at the end. This was Loewen’s sixth top-25 finish of the year, a team-high.

Rounding out the Boise State lineup in Utah was senior Kevin Tarango who opened the tournament with a 4-over 76 Friday morning. The Coalinga, Calif., native matched that result in the second session giving him a two-round total of 152 (+8) and tied for 72nd. Saturday morning Tarango recorded a 77 (+5) to finish the two-day tournament at 229 (+13) and tied for 64th.

The PING Cougar Classic was the final regular-season tournament for the Broncos serving as a warm-up for next week’s Western Athletic Conference Championship April 27-29, Monday-Wednesday, in Henderson, Nev. Boise State who took second place at last year’s conference tournament will feature the same lineup for the title event that it had at the PING Cougar Classic.

Final Tournament Summary

PING Cougar Classic April 24-25, 2009 Hosted by Brigham Young University Provo, Utah Riverside Country Club (Par 72; 6,902-Yards)